Altered Visual Perception in Game Transfer Phenomena: An Empirical Self-Report Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify, classify, and explain gamers’ perceptual experiences referred to as Visual Game Transfer Phenomena (VGTP) to contribute to the understanding of the effects of post-video-game playing and encourage healthy and safe gaming. A total of 656 experiences from 483 gamers were collected from 54 online gaming forums. The findings suggest that intensive playing can result in misperceptions and visual distortions of real-life objects and environments, stereotypical visual experiences that arise from mind visualization, and pseudo-hallucinatory experiences with video game content. Gamers’ experiences can be explained by the interplay of physiological, perceptual, and cognitive mechanisms. Observation of video game features suggests that in most cases a relationship between the games’ structural characteristics, gamers’ VGTP experiences, and gamers’ playing habits appeared relevant. VGTP can occur while gaming, immediately after stopping play, or after some delay. Further VGTP characteristics and their psychosocial implications are discussed.

Notes

¹Online video game forums included comments to articles on websites, as these are considered discussion platforms.

²Hypnagogic states are considered transitional states between being awake and asleep, and it has been reported in different sensory modalities (e.g., visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile). However, a single event can also include different sensory modalities (e.g., visual and auditory, visual and tactile; Mavromatis, 2010).

³Positive visual phenomena are related to increased functions, exaggerated, or distorted perceptions of the real world.